There exists today a number of various styles and models of traps used to rid a premises of small rodents. Many such traps utilize spring biased jaws that are tripped by a baited trigger to snare or otherwise catch the intended prey. Once tripped, however, the trap must be rebaited and/or reset that is, traps of this type must be tended for efficient use.
Other models of traps resemble cages that have a specially designed entry way for one-way ingress by a rodent who seeks the bait usually placed inside the cage. If the bait is not protected, the trapped rodent will devour the bait and the cagelike trap must be "reset" by emptying its contents and placing new bait therein. Other similar traps provide a mesh or other material to cover the bait so that the entering (and subsequently trapped) rodent cannot consume the bait, and mitigate the trap's efficiency. However, the mere presence of the trap's inhabitant, viewable from outside, can operate as a debilitating factor to catching further rodents. Again, therefore, the trap must be emptied for subsequent use.
Still other traps utilize passageways fitted with tilting or trap door mechanisms that empty into buckets, barrels or the like. Rodents are attracted to the passage by bait placed proximate the tilting door mechanism. Rodents are coaxed onto the tilting doors by the bait and, when the rodent's weight reaches a certain point, the door tilts, dropping the encroaching rodent into an underlying receptacle. Examples of these kinds of traps can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 886,381, 915,028, 942,481, 960,170, and 995,233. These traps also suffer certain problems: since they are adapted to be placed on a water-filled bucket or similar receptacle for retaining trapped rodents, or when used in an external environment in inclement weather conditions, the water in the trap's receptacle can operate to make this type of trap untasteful to use and, at times, inoperable. For example, the introduction of moisture in the receptacle (oft times a specified element in traps described in certain of the above referenced patents) can operate to make use and subsequent emptying of the receptacle a distasteful and undesirable operation, particularly when the trapped rodent or rodents have been resident for any length of time. Further, the water level receptacle can rise to a point that impedes the operation of the tilting doors, thereby making the trap inoperable.
The tilting door traps often use a pivoted door construction that sometimes allows a rodent encroach beyond the pivot point of the door and reach any bait placed in the trap without causing the door to tilt. Thereby, the whole purpose of the trap of defeated.